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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25504579">3 times Iroh failed, and 3 times he redeemed himself</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceantail/pseuds/Oceantail'>Oceantail</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>1 son, 1 nephew, and 1 niece [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(lu ten), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Character Death, Character Study, Fire Nation Royal Family, Fluff, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, No Dialogue, POV Iroh (Avatar), Pai Sho, Protective Iroh (Avatar), Redemption, Zuko's Scar (Avatar), but he's still a flawed individual</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:53:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,569</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25504579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceantail/pseuds/Oceantail</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Iroh has 1 son, 1 nephew, and 1 niece. Somehow he manages to fail them all.<br/>But he does all he can to make up for it.</p><p>Or, an exploration into Iroh’s relationships with Lu Ten, Zuko and Azula.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Azula &amp; Iroh (Avatar), Iroh &amp; Lu Ten, Iroh &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>1 son, 1 nephew, and 1 niece [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1847662</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>176</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>3 times Iroh failed, and 3 times he redeemed himself</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the prelude/teaser/outline to a much longer fic I will write sometime in the future.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> 1: Lu Ten </em>
</p><p>~~</p><p>Iroh’s first failure is Lu Ten’s death. </p><p> </p><p>Many people assume that the great General Iroh called off the siege because he developed a new perspective of the world and deep empathy for the Earth Kingdom people after the death of his son, but that’s only partly true. Iroh continues to tell the regulars at the Jasmine Dragon who listens to his stories that he left the siege because he was tired of the war and the fighting and destruction. </p><p> </p><p>In the heat of the moment, Iroh ended the siege entirely out of his own grief. </p><p> </p><p>The new perspective and empathy didn’t come until later; after two years of drowning in despair and grief did Iroh turn his thoughts beyond himself and his son. </p><p> </p><p>But immediately after calling off the siege, Iroh feels like he's blindly stumbling around in thick fog, going through the motions of living, but barely registering anything, not knowing what he was doing or even how to function. </p><p> </p><p>He remembers nothing from Lu Ten’s funeral except crushing agony destroying what’s left of the man he used to be, like the boulders that had crushed his son to death. </p><p> </p><p>His father graciously grants him a brief leave to mourn the loss of his son and he sets sail, aimlessly drifting around the Fire Nation archipelago. </p><p> </p><p>Two weeks later, he receives a letter that his father has passed away and his claim to the throne is revoked. Ozai is the Fire Lord and Zuko is the new Crown Prince. Iroh stares at the letter numbly, then reduces it to ash. He doesn’t attend the funeral or the coronation. </p><p> </p><p>Iroh spends two years traveling across the world, meeting new people, and is cautiously accepted as an initiate into the Order of the White Lotus. When the enormous wave of guilt and shame over his role in the war that had been building up for <em>years</em> eventually comes crashing down on him, he emerges as a man seeking to right his wrongs. </p><p> </p><p>It takes him nearly 7 years to redeem himself, not just to himself and the Earth Kingdom, but to his son whom he had willingly brought to the front lines of a war and unknowingly fed poisonous ideas about the glory of the Fire Nation. </p><p> </p><p>So on the precipice of history, Iroh finds himself standing in the heart of Ba Sing Se as battle rages around him, the ink painting of Lu Ten safely tucked away in a hidden pocket in his White Lotus robes. He points two fingers at the Fire Nation banner that covers the insignia of the Earth Kingdom. </p><p> </p><p>When it goes up in flames, Iroh wants to imagine that Lu Ten is watching over him with pride. </p><p> </p><p>He lowers his hand, satisfied. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>2: Zuko </em>
</p><p>~~</p><p>Iroh’s second failure is Zuko’s burning and banishment. </p><p> </p><p><em> He </em>was the one to lead Zuko into the war meeting, the war meeting that ripped away his innocence and youth, replacing it with anger and hate. </p><p> </p><p>Whenever Zuko snaps and snarls and screams and shouts at him during the three long years at sea, Zuko’s young and earnest voice begging to enter the war meeting echoes through Iroh's mind. </p><p> </p><p>And at night, his nephew’s agonized scream as his face goes up in flames like dry kindling now overlays his usual nightmares of Lu Ten being crushed to death by boulders. </p><p> </p><p>There’s a part of him—a selfish part of him so deep down he will never acknowledge it—that <em>hates </em>Zuko’s scar, the rare moments where he stares at it a little too long and thinks a little too hard. The warped, deep red burn scar shaped like his brother’s hand consumes his nephew's face and it’s a stark reminder of Iroh’s failure and inability to protect his nephew. </p><p> </p><p>He tries to help Zuko the best he can but he’s terrified that what he’s doing isn’t enough, will never be enough, and that Zuko will fall to the war machine that killed his son. </p><p> </p><p>He does everything he can: helping to run the ship to take burdens off Zuko’s shoulders, reteaching Zuko firebending, finding a pair of “decorative” dual dao to hang on his wall, and even dissuading the crew from committing mutiny on several occasions. </p><p> </p><p>When Zuko fights the Avatar in the crystal catacombs in Ba Sing Se, Iroh feels nothing but loss and sadness. He’s convinced that Ba Sing Se is a cursed city: the place where he lost two sons. </p><p> </p><p>He feels nothing but joy and relief when he reads White Lotus messages after the Day of Black Sun that report the Crown Prince was spotted with the Avatar and their group, even breaking prisoners of war out of the Boiling Rock. </p><p> </p><p>After Sozin’s Comet, Iroh attends Zuko’s coronation, purposefully standing off to the side and in the shadows. It wouldn’t do well to have Earth Kingdom soldiers see the Dragon of the West just yet, not when peace was so new and fragile. </p><p> </p><p>But when his nephew steps out from behind the curtain to address the assembled crowd, face bright and happy again, Iroh can’t take his eyes off him, heart swelling with pride. </p><p> </p><p>Later, Iroh embraces Zuko again, holding him close. They don’t say a word but Iroh can feel Zuko relaxing and returning the hug with the same love and affection. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>3: Azula </em>
</p><p>~~</p><p>Iroh’s third failure is abandoning Azula. </p><p> </p><p>He knew he was making a mistake, recognized it the second he had chosen to go with Zuko to find the Avatar and left her in the palace with only her father for company. </p><p> </p><p><em> It was the practical choice,</em> he tells himself, trying to quell the unease and guilt that settled in his gut, <em>this is the only way.  </em></p><p> </p><p>He doesn't see her for another three years. </p><p> </p><p>Iroh knows Azula’s scheme by the end of her first sentence<em>. Father wants you home. </em>He sees the calculating and determined look in her eyes, a gleam that’s both terrifying and oh so familiar. She reminds him of <em>himself, </em>years ago, when he was the genius military strategist, the powerful Dragon of the West. Panic makes him step forward and interject, but when she turns to face him angrily, Iroh freezes. It’s like staring into a mirror into the past and Iroh <em>hates</em> her for making her feel this way, for the shame and anger and guilt over his past resurfacing. </p><p> </p><p>It’s partly his pride speaking when he bites out <em>she’s crazy and she needs to go down. </em>How could she have gotten such an easy hit on him during the fight? </p><p> </p><p>He eventually regrets those words. </p><p> </p><p>Months later, after Zuko’s coronation, the Avatar’s waterbending teacher, Katara, had approached and, in hushed whispers, told him about the Agni Kai with Azula. How she broke down at the end of the battle, shrieking and crying and sobbing and spitting fire uncontrollably. </p><p> </p><p>Iroh makes the decision to stay in the Fire Nation. </p><p> </p><p>The first time Iroh visits Azula in the prisons and she screamed him out, refusing to let him get a word in. </p><p> </p><p>That night he remembers Ursa’s letters from years ago, telling him about how her daughter loved to sit with her while she played Pai Sho with other nobles, how Azula showed a remarkable understanding for the game despite being a child. She had also joked about Azula taking after her uncle. </p><p> </p><p>The next time Iroh visits her, he brings a Pai Sho board. Behind the anger and hatred and desperation, Azula’s eyes flicker with interest. </p><p> </p><p>Iroh wins and panic flashed across Azula’s face. His heart clenches in empathy and his stomach churns with guilt. He understands the need to be perfect as keenly as she does, but he doesn't say anything. Anything he said would fall on deaf ears. Azula just clenches her jaw and demands he return tomorrow. </p><p> </p><p>He does. </p><p> </p><p>And the next day. And the next. And the next. </p><p> </p><p>She demands honesty and Iroh will give it to her. When she asks, he tells her everything, how he was terrified that saw himself in her, how he knows he left her in the clutches of her father, how he never gave her the second chance like he did Zuko until after the war, how he wanted to make thing right but the doesn't know where to start. Words spill out faster than he can think them through. </p><p> </p><p>Azula is silent for a long time at his words and when she finally looks up, she doesn't look angry like he expected; she just looks tired and sad. </p><p> </p><p>Weeks turn into months and then a year and all the paperwork for the teashop had been completed a while ago and Iroh really should get to planning the grand re-opening. But he can’t bring himself to leave just yet. </p><p> </p><p>He watches as she mends her relationship with friends, watches her cry as Ty Lee folds her into a tentative hug and Mai puts a cautious hand on her shoulder. When he finally does settle down in Ba Sing Se, he watches from afar as Azula rebuilds her relationships with the people around her, from the servants in the palace to the general Fire Nation public; striving to be the best person she can be for Izumi. He watches as her eyes are alight with a new kind of fire, one of freedom and passion. </p><p> </p><p>He watches her with pride. </p><p> </p><p>And he is finally at peace.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>comments/kudos appreciated &lt;3</p><p>hang out with me on <a href="https://oceantail-oceantail.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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